The short answer

The other day I was asked a question, a good question.  The question was this:  "Are you Jennifer Raudebaugh Photography, or are you "Cannon Hill Photo"?

The short answer is this:  I am registered with both the city and state as Jennifer Raudebaugh Photography, LLC".  This registered entity is so long that on some forms the same name does not fit.  I was not blessed with a short name...add "Photography" and your fingers might swell from all the typing.  Additionally, I'm pretty much the only person (besides my husband) who can spell my last name. (I kept my maiden name for professional reasons.)

That, right there is the main reason my name is not my website name!  Everyone queried could spell Cannon Hill Photo (Cannon Hill is a nearby park here in Spokane), and if by chance someone types in "Canon" instead of "Cannon", I have that covered in the search.

Short. Easy to spell.  Easy to remember.  Unlike my name.

But, as always, the check is written out to me!

Jennifer Raudebaugh Photography

(AT  CannonHillPhoto.com)

Inspiration where you find it

People find inspiration in different things, or different places.  Perhaps this is a silly post, but I was thinking about WHERE I find inspiration the most; Where I have the most moments of clarity or find a solution to a challenge or a creative way of looking at things.  It's good to know yourself.  And so I did some thinking.

And WHERE did I do my thinking, you may ask.  Several "locations". Right at this very moment I'm sitting in bed with the electric blanket radiating it's goodness all over my body while I type!  While sometimes it is true that I get inspiration in bed dreaming, that is more unusual.  Usually, my best thoughts occur when I can't sleep, or I am on the verge of sleep; that semi lucid place in your head where reality and dreams get all tangled up in each other.  I know I am awake, but part of me is not.  Perhaps it is the conscious and the unconscious talking to each other... Epiphanies have happened there!

Another one of the locations where I can be assured to get clarity on a shoot, or inspiration, is in the shower or soaking in the tub.  I think five minutes have gone by, but when I get out twenty minutes has easily come and gone.   The sound of the water, the smell of the soaps, the warm washing over me..and then the blissful silence as I push out any background noise and delve into a deeper place of being.....

The idea for this post came from sitting in the sauna at the gym....which got me thinking....(laughter here!)
The real location of my problem solving/inspiration is not a place as much as it is a feeling inside me.  I'm pretty certain that the location could in fact be anywhere that was:
1) warm
2) safe
3) quiet
4) uninterrupted

Add these ingredients into my life, stir in a bit of hot chocolate, or coffee, or warm tasty beverage, and watch out world!



Where do you find your inspiration?  Is it easy to find?

nibble

Coming up this month is a shoot that I am extra excited about.  Sure I get excited about all my shoots, but this one involves chocolate.  LOTS of chocolate.  I've photographed food and chocolates before (see website for a handful of samples), but never of this volume of chocolates (several seasons of styles and product lines), and with such an amazing amount of creative direction given to me.  Obviously, I keep within the style of the brand and marketing requirements that I have been given during meetings, but concept through post production will be self-directed.  A bit of Peter Pan meets Alice in Wonderland...it will be a magical shoot.  My lovely client has been sending snap shots of the samples she is creating for the shoot and it keeps my creative juices flowing!  I find ideas and inspiration in surprise places.  Once this project has been completed I may link to a behind the scenes slideshow of how some of the pieces were shot.... but for now, not wanting to give more information away, I should just say there will be some fantastic creations coming this way mid month.  I just wanted to give you a taste; a little nibble...

This is one project I can really sink my teeth in...

(Sorry- I couldn't help myself)